1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital weight indicators and more particularly, to digital weight indicators having weight verification devices that operate in accordance with secure digital signature technology measures to verify weight transaction data.
2. Description of Related Art
The duty of the State Departments of Weights and Measures is to ensure that weight data employed in commercial transactions are fair and accurate. And yet, as computer technology assumes a greater role in the capture, processing, and transmission of weight data, the traditional methods of assuring fair weights and measures are increasingly inadequate to the task.
At the present time, when a weight inspector calibrates and seals a digital weight indicator, he or she verifies that the weighing system is capturing a fair and accurate weight, and that it adheres to accepted weighing procedures. Once the weight data leave the indicator, however, to be processed by attached computer equipment, no such verification is possible. An inspector may witness a transaction and see that it was performed properly, but there is no guarantee that the software will continue to perform in a fair and accurate way under actual conditions of use. There is no guarantee that the software that was inspected is even the same software that will be used in daily operations. Participants in a transaction may be given scale tickets or other paperwork to verify the weighing transaction, but since any paper output is itself the product of the attached computer equipment, they are just as easily forged. The situation is, of course, worse for those participants in a weighing transaction who are not present at the weighment, who only receive electronic confirmation, and yet charge or pay based on numbers received electronically. The possibilities for fraud are obvious.
The costs of combating fraud can be substantial, including mailing of signed scale tickets back and forth, or even duplication of the weighing process on both the vendor's and customer's scales. In many cases, it is not possible to recover the original weight. For example, if a vehicle is involved in an accident, the original (easily forged) scale ticket or bill of lading may be required as evidence of whether the vehicle was overloaded. Additionally, the reliance on paper tickets can be an impediment to the further development of electronic commerce.